A Family Affair
by CUtopia
Summary: NYPD!AU - Lieutenant Andromeda Tonks was just promoted, leaving Detective Remus Lupin without a partner; and the new one will be an actual surprise. ! WARNING: Mention of rape.


Entry for the _Ancient Runes OWL_ at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Prompts:

(character) Remus Lupin

(character) Lucius Malfoy

(character) Andromeda Tonks

.

Entry for the _Gringotts Prompt Bank_

Various Prompts: CSI New York

(location) New York City, New York

(location) Police precinct

(occupation) Detective

(occupation) Police Officer

(action) Looking at evidence

(scenario) Interrogating a suspect

(scenario) Finding a live victim

(object) File on someone

(object) Computer

(word) Sir

(word) Victim

(word) Crime

(word) Interrogation

(word) DNA

(object) Ambulance

(object) Stretcher

(object) Latex gloves

(colour) White

(colour) Black

(colour) Brown

(clothing apparel) Light brown jacket

(clothing apparel) Leather jacket

(Phrase) Seeing red

(scenario) Look up information on a computer

(dialogue) "[Insert name], at any time you feel uncomfortable tell me to stop."

(dialogue) "She fought. She fought hard."

(dialogue) "What was his name?"

Various Prompts: Navy CIS

(occupation) police officer

(object) a mug

(object) medical gloves

(object) a cellphone

(object) a telephone

(object) plastic bags

(object) notepad

(object) a computer

(object) scrubs

(object) a police car

(action) asking someone to have lunch with you

(action) climbing up stairs

(action) answering the phone

(action) bagging evidence

(action) interrogating someone

(action) getting scolded by your superior officer

(action) handing someone gloves

(dialogue) "I'm not guilty, Sir!" / "They're always so sincere when they say that."

Words Instead of Said

chatted

complained

blurted

commented

addressed

explained

admitted

reassured

declared

protested

bleated

broke in

grunted

went on

demanded

cooed

nodded

exploded

Muggle Occupations

Police Officer

Detective

Doctor

Lawyer

All Colour Prompts

Amber

Brown

Platinum

(6235 Words)

Thanks a lot to my fellow Wanderer Dina, who beta-ed this for me! :)

* * *

 **A Family Affair**

* * *

 _The world is a village_

* * *

Detective Remus Lupin sat on the visitor chair in the precinct chief's office, a small, proud smile on his face. On the other side of the clean desk sat his former partner, now Lieutenant and chief of their precinct, Andromeda Tonks, still looking as if she couldn't believe that this office and this chair now really belonged to her.

To Remus, her promotion hadn't been a surprise; Andromeda was one of the most hard-working police officers he knew in the NYPD. She was a skilled investigator and leader, and he owed her a lot; when he'd started at the 22nd after becoming a detective, she'd taught him nearly everything he knew about his job today. Andromeda also was a good friend, and he could always come to her and her husband Ted if he needed advice. They never had any secrets from each other, and they'd saved each other's lives countless times.

However, Remus felt like he would have to run if Andromeda found out that he'd gone on a couple of dates with her daughter Dora in the past weeks. Dora was following in her mother's footsteps, had just been promoted from Officer to Detective; Remus had helped her to prepare for the tests and they'd gotten a bit closer during that time.

"It feels odd to sit here," Andromeda's voice ripped him from his thoughts; her gaze was wandering around the mostly undecorated office and flickered through the glass wall into the squad room from time to time.

"I think you'll get used to this pretty fast," Remus grinned and gestured towards the wall. "A few pictures, your promotion certificate, and the pot plant that was always rotting on your desk and everything will look a lot more like your office."

"I still expect Murray to come through the door any minute. I hope he won't be bored to death in Florida."

A low chuckle made Remus' body shake and his amber eyes gleamed in amusement as he joked: "I would bet that he's already engaging in some Miss Marple games."

Andromeda laughed, mumbling something about the good, old Captain Murray and shook her head, making her dark locks dance around her face. Remus took the last swig of coffee from his NYPD mug before putting on a more serious face, telling her: "But seriously, Andy, you deserve this post. One day, you'll be sitting in One Police Plaza and I'll be like 'Hey, I once worked with her'."

Andromeda blushed slightly, obviously flattered by the praisings of her former partner. She wasn't really a person for self-marketing, always aware of the mistakes she'd done in the past, but luckily, she didn't let them define her. Her modesty probably was one of the traits Remus liked the most about her, as it reflected himself too.

"Stop talking like this, Remus. You know I would go crazy if I had to stay away from the action completely. It's going to take weeks for me not to jump from my chair when you're getting a call and need to leave for a case."

Remus nodded and released a small sigh; he felt the same. It was an odd feeling to know that they wouldn't be partners anymore, that somebody else would work with him from now on. Of course, he would still see her and work together with her, but it wouldn't be the same feeling. She was his boss now, after all.

"By the way, Remus, your new partner should arrive soon. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to speak with him yet, only got confirmation about his transfer from 6th to here yesterday. Don't even have his name yet, some of the bureaucrats at One Police Plaza messed up."

Andromeda shifted on her chair and pulled at her black blazer; she knew exactly Remus didn't like to be unable to prepare for situations. They shared a long glance, then Remus seemed to decide to guide their conversation to a topic that would make her uncomfortable, too.

"So, have you called your mother to tell her about your promotion? Maybe now, that you're somewhat more important, she'll decide that your job isn't that unrespectable," Remus chatted casually, ignoring her well-trained disapproving glare. Andromeda folded her arms in front of her chest and pressed her lips together; her family, and especially her mother, were a topic she didn't like to speak about, not even with Remus.

"She obviously heard about it, as she called and asked when I would finally start a decent career," Andromeda answered, sounding a little bit pressed. "But you know what I think. I've been at the NYPD for nearly twenty years now, worked my way up the ranks, gained respect, but it will never be enough for her, and I made my peace with that."

Silence filled the room for a moment; it was something that always happened when they talked about Andromeda's family. She'd grown up at Park Avenue as the daughter of one of New York's richest families and as one of three sisters, she would one day have received a heritage that could have wiped all sorrows away in a second.

However, after college, she'd decided to join the police instead of going to law school as her parents had expected. Paired with her love for firefighter Ted Tonks, a man poor by the Black family's standards, her fall from grace had been perfect.

Remus could count the times Andromeda had had contact with her family on one hand; in this point, they were quite opposite. Remus had grown up in Brooklyn, in a small, loving family that had helped him through the worst time of his life. At only six years old, he'd been involved in a car crash and had suffered life-threatening injuries. The doctors hadn't been sure if he would ever be able to walk again, or if he could do sports, but years later, he'd been the best player on his high school's cricket team. His mother had also cried in happiness when he'd passed the police school's entry test with excellent marks; the only thing that remained from the horrible accident were the faded scars on his torso and thighs.

After some time, Andromeda sighed loudly and then, acting as if nothing had happened, she informed Remus: "I haven't heard anything about your Sergeant exam yet. But the results will probably be there in a few days. Though I doubt that you have anything to worry about."

Remus only nodded; he was a patient man, and he knew that the test had been more of a formality on his way to his promotion. He'd always found learning for exams really easy.

"Are we going to have lunch together today? So you can tell me everything about your new partner?" Andromeda winked, and Remus matched her grin; the tension was finally wiped away, and he felt like joking around again.

"Sure," he affirmed, chuckling lowly. "There are some things that will never change, and your curiosity and craving for gossip are some of those."

Raising her hands, Andromeda let her eyes twinkle and exclaimed: "Guilty as charged, Detective."

Suddenly, her gaze stopped at the door and her expression fell immediately; moments later, someone knocked at the door and entered. Remus turned around in curiosity, and had to control himself to keep him from gaping as well.

"Hey, mum," Dora Tonks grinned as she walked through the door; she was wearing jeans, black boots and a matching leather jacket, her badge gleaming at her belt. "Wotcher, Remus."

She approached her mother's desk and kissed her onto the cheek, making Andromeda finally snap out of her state of shock.

"Dora, honey, what the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your new precinct? I don't want to have your new Captain calling me to say you were late on your first day!" she complained, sounding concerned as she jumped from her chair. Dora only grinned and patted her mother's shoulder, as if she was encouraging a little kid to try something again after messing up. Spitting her gum into the bin next to the desk, she explained: "Lieutenant Tonks, I'm your new Detective."

"Dora, that isn't funny."

"No, I'm serious, mum. Look into your emails, they've probably finally managed to send you the notification. There was a mix-up and I was the only one who was still flexible enough to change."

Andromeda blinked a few times before turning towards her computer and typing around for a bit. Behind her back, Dora was winking at Remus, and a warm feeling shot through his stomach. He was having mixed feelings about the prospect of becoming Dora's new partner – on one hand, they worked together really well, something they'd discovered while he'd helped her study. But on the other hand, he feared that it could bring more problems than benefits for them – in the weeks they'd spent hours studying together and had gone out for drinks or dinner afterwards to relax, he'd discovered that he indeed had feelings for Dora.

Her smile made him want to fall to his knees, she was joking around a lot, ripping him from his serious moments with her infectious laugh. With her, he felt carefree.

Andromeda's voice ripped him from his thoughts as she mumbled: "It seems like they really transferred you here, Dora."

"Didn't I say that moments ago, mum? But, well, if you think you won't be able to handle this, feel free to write them and ask for a switch," Dora blurted before taking a deep breath and looking at her mother with a serious expression. "I think I can handle this, mum. But you're the boss, and if you don't think you'll be able to be my boss inside the precinct and my mother outside, I'll be fine with transferring."

For a moment, Andromeda looked slightly taken aback about how adult her daughter suddenly sounded, but then Remus knew that she hadn't had many opportunities to see how Dora acted when she was on duty. Privately, she was really bubbly and loud, but when she pulled on her uniform – or grabbed her badge now – she would become a woman who knew how to speak with people. She could switch between authority and empathy in a blink, and she wasn't afraid of walking into dangerous situations.

Remus looked at his former partner expectantly, a little bit curious how she would decide – Dora was Andromeda's and Ted's only child, and they were always rather protective of her. But when Andromeda nodded and pinched the root of her nose, he knew that Dora had won.

"Okay. We'll give it a shot. Remus, she's all yours."

Remus stood up from his chair and gestured for Dora to leave the office. He followed her, and before he closed the door behind him, he turned around and grinned at Andromeda, stating: "I'll see you for lunch, then."

"Oh, shut up, Lupin."

As he turned towards the squad room, Dora was already sitting at the desk that had once been her mother's and grinned openly at him. Remus sat down at his desk, opposite to her, and shoved around some files, just to look as if he was busy. He was feeling a little bit uncomfortable, especially because Dora didn't really seem bothered about this situation at all.

A tense silence hang between them – or at least _he_ found that it was tense – and Remus nearly sighed in relief when his telephone suddenly rung. Hurrying to pick up, he talked with the officer on the other side of the line, grabbing a notepad and scribbling the address down that the man was giving him.

As the short conversation ended, he opened his drawer and grabbed his gun, telling Dora: "Just got a call, a girl was found in the Central Park. Raped."

Dora immediately jumped from her chair and nodded, looking a little bit excited as she grinned: "Time to fight crime, partner, huh?"

OoO

As they drove through the busy streets of Manhattan, Dora threw him questioning glances from the passenger seat. She'd obviously picked up his odd behaviour and he could sense that she was about to address this. And indeed, it only took a few seconds before she asked: "Are you okay, Remus? I mean, this is a little bit... odd, I know, considering what happened between us in the last weeks."

Remus gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter and bit his lip, taking his time before he responded: "I guess it came a little bit unexpected."

"Definitely. Will... will we be able to handle this?" Dora sighed, her fingers playing around with her shoulder-length, mousy brown hair. Remus gulped, feeling a little bit guilty about what he was going to say next.

"As we didn't talk about whether we wanted to go on more dates, I guess it will only be appropriate if we stop seeing each other privately. And I have no problems about working with you, Dora."

From the corner of his eye, he could see how she looked a little bit hurt for a moment, then, she was suddenly back to her bubbly self, smiling, even though he could see a little shadow on her face.

Minutes later, they arrived at their destination; several patrol cars were already there, the officers securing the crime scene. An ambulance stood among the patrols, and they just came in time to see how a young woman on a stretcher was loaded into the back of the ambulance.

Remus walked over, knowing that Dora was right behind him, flashed his badge and asked one of the MTAs: "Detective Lupin. What can you say about her?"

"Amy Ryan, she's unconscious and has some serious injuries, so we need to get her to the hospital immediately. You'll find her in St. Lukes."

"Thank you," Remus nodded, able to throw a short glance at the woman; even though a white blanket mostly prevented him to see her, he could spot that her face was covered with blood, and her left arm was in a splint. Inwardly, Remus was already preparing himself for the questioning they would have to do with her.

Sometimes, he couldn't really decide if he preferred it when the victims were still alive – seeing the bodies definitely wasn't easy, neither was dealing with the violent death of a person. However, to him it seemed more difficult to deal with those traumatised victims who was putting all their hope of justice onto him.

On the other hand, when he'd caught the offender and brought him into jail, it was more satisfaction to see the thankful smiles.

One of the patrolmen lead them over to the scene and informed them that the Crime Scene Unit was already on their way. While they followed him to a rather secluded spot behind some bushes, Remus pulled two pairs of latex gloves out of the pocket of his jacket and handed one pair to Dora. Their fingers briefly brushed against each other as she took them, and a tingle shot down Remus's spine. Feeling how his cheeks started to become warm, he avoided her gaze and instead concentrated himself onto the crime scene.

It was obvious that a fight had happened at the site; the brown, slightly damp soil was churned, he could see blood glistening here and there and pieces of clothing were lying around – ripped apart with sheer brutality. From where he stood, Remus discovered a pair of underwear, and ordered one of the officers to hand him a plastic bag for the piece of evidence. Careful not to step onto the marked area, he picked the underwear up and put it into the bag before sealing it. After he'd filled out the tag for the bureaucratic part of the interrogation, he inspected it, mumbling more to himself than to Dora: "Maybe that bastard left his DNA on it."

"Well, he definitely left something else behind," Dora answered immediately, making him jump slightly as he was used to Andromeda's silent observations of the scene. Following Dora's pointing finger, he now too spotted the shoe prints close to them, and gave his new partner a grim smile.

"Good work," he nodded approvingly and Dora's eyes continued to wander over the scene. Remus knew exactly how she had to feel right now; only a week ago, she'd been one of the officers who were keeping the public away from the crime scene and asked passerbys if they'd seen or heard anything. But now, she was on another side of the interrogations, one of the Detectives who had to look under the surface – it could be slightly scary and intimidating for someone who was still inexperienced.

It was his job to keep an eye on her now and to teach her those basics that the investigators were passing from one generation to the next. Waving Dora closer, he carefully stepped through the gap between two bushes and said over his shoulder: "Let's have a quick look around if there are any signs that she was dragged here. It could tell us at least a little bit about what happened until we can ask the victim herself."

About ten minutes later, the men and women of the Crime Scene Unit finally arrived and Remus and Dora hadn't found any of the signs they'd been looking for; it seemed like the victim had voluntarily made her way to the site.

While they walked back to their car, deciding to drive to the hospital and see if they could already talk to the victim, Remus found that Dora had did relatively good. She had actually been a little bit clumsy from time to time, stumbling through the bushes, but she hadn't been close to the crime scene then.

OoO

As they hit the streets, he decided to break the silence in the car with that little compliment.

"For the first time, this wasn't so bad."

"Really? I felt like I had no idea what I was doing," Dora sighed and pulled her cellphone out of the pocket of her leather jacket. Checking her messages, she frowned and bit her lip.

"Your mum?" Remus asked, a knowing expression on his face while he maneuvered the car through the thick traffic.

"Yup. Wants to know how everything's going."

Remus chuckled lightly, but only answered when he was parking their car by the hospital: "She'll stop with that in a few days, when she'll get used to seeing her baby girl as a real, grown-up Detective. Oh, and write her that we'll have to cancel lunch because we're busy with a new case."

"You're just afraid that she might want you to spill every single detail about how I'm doing," Dora grinned as they left the car and walked into the emergency room, dodging doctors, nurses and stretchers on their way to the information desk.

"Detectives Lupin and Tonks, NYPD," Remus addressed the nurse behind the counter, putting his badge onto the wooden surface for the woman to see. "We're here for Amy Ryan, she was brought here about an hour ago."

They had to wait a few minutes until the attending doctor arrived; Remus could see how Dora started to shift more and more with every heartbeat that went by, looking concerned. This probably was the worst part of their job, and he could understand why she was feeling uncomfortable. While he watched a doctor in scrubs approaching them, he leaned over to her and whispered: "You don't have to say or do anything. You can just stand back and watch, if you feel uncomfortable."

A thankful nod was directed towards him before they shook hands with the doctor, who introduced himself as Dr. Williams. While they walked through the long, busy hallways towards the room of their victim, the doctor informed them about her condition.

"Whoever did this, he definitely was driven by a lot of anger. Her arm is broken, she has a concussion and a lot of bruises; a nurse already took photos for your files. We also found semen during the gynaecological examination, just as proof for more than rough intercourse. But there also are good news – she fought, she fought hard. We found a lot of skin cells under her fingernails, as well as blood. So I believe your suspect will have deep marks somewhere on his body."

Next to Remus, Dora snorted to herself, as if she found the word choice a little bit odd – after all, the woman had been raped, so one couldn't consider DNA good news. Maybe it was good news for them as investigators, as it would make things easier concerning the evidence; also, even if the victim didn't remember the assailant's name or face, they would have something in their hands that was most useful.

"She's traumatised, but when I told her that the police wanted to talk to her, she said that she would manage," he explained and stopped in front of a door. After knocking softly, they heard a croaked voice telling them to enter.

"Miss Ryan, the Detectives are here now."

Remus and Dora entered, greeting the battered young woman sitting in the hospital bed; she was about Dora's age, had long, platinum blonde hair and under the bruises and cuts on her forehead and cheek, Remus could discover a beautiful face. A pained and exhausted smile was sent into their direction as she shifted in the bed, seemingly in an attempt to look less miserable, hurt and vulnerable.

Knowing that she would possibly feel uncomfortable by being questioned by a male officer, he tried to behave as unthreatening as possible as he greeted her, staying at a distance from her.

"Miss Ryan, I'm Detective Remus Lupin, this is my partner, Detective Dora Tonks. We're here to ask you a few questions about what happened in the Central Park," he began softly, relieved when she looked a little bit more relaxed. Only as she nodded weakly and gulped, Remus dared to continue. "Miss Ryan, at any time you feel uncomfortable tell me to stop, okay? Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

"Okay," she breathed, curling her shaking fingers around the blanket that covered her legs, as if she needed something to hold on to."I... I was on a date with this guy... we... we've been chatting on a dating platform for some time and then we met yesterday, for coffee and..."

Her voice died down, and a sob vibrated through her body; Remus waited patiently until she'd calmed down again before he asked: "So you knew him? What was his name?"

"Connor. Connor Gregson. He's one of the owners of this little comic start-up in Harlem."

Remus scribbled down the name on his notepad, nodding softly and gave her an encouraging smile as he asked: "And then you went to the park?"

"Yes... he said that a walk would be nice and I agreed, because... he was smart and handsome and it... it was a pleasant conversation, so I went with him..."

She wiped a few tears away with the sleeve of her hospital gown, but immediately, new ones were running down her cheeks, leaving salty trails behind.

"If you need a break..."

"No, no, I... he... he suggested we snog in the bushes, and I... I went with him. That was so dumb of me, I should have..."

"You couldn't know what he was up to," Remus reassured her; he could hear Dora shuffle behind him, but he had no time to check what was going on with her. "So, you went into the bushes and snogged. Can you tell me what happened after that?"

"Uh... he... he st-arted to touch me... at the breasts and between the legs and... and I told him to stop, that I didn't want this, but he just growled that I've been teasing him all the time and that I couldn't deny that I wanted to fuck with him..."

Her eyes were wide open, as if she tried desperately not to remember the scene too vividly, but Remus knew that this was only the first time of many in which she would have to relive the events of this day.

"And I tried to push him away," Miss Ryan gulped, grimacing with a disgusted expression. "Then he hit me with his fist, and I fell to the ground... I was so dizzy, and before... before I knew it, he was lying on me, ripping... ripping clothes away and then he... he... I couldn't do anything, he held me down and... and he was just too strong..."

Deep down in his stomach, Remus could feel anger boiling, hot and acid, but he knew better than to let it take over. What this woman needed now was someone who reassured her that it wasn't her fault, who gave her a little bit reassurance after her feeling of security had been crushed.

"And... and when he was done, he spat onto me and called me a whore, and that I should call him if I want to be fucked like this again..."

Remus nodded, and seeing how much she struggled to stay calm, he softly told her: "I think that is enough for today. Thank you, Miss Ryan. Rest a little bit, we'll take care of this from here."

When Remus turned around, he stopped for a second, staring in concern – Dora's face was white as the wall behind her, and he had to place a hand on her shoulder blade and push her gently so she snapped out of her trance and moved out of the room.

Only as they sat in the car did he dare to address her, formulating his words cautiously as he asked: "Are you alright? Do you need a minute?"

Dora sniffed shortly and ran her hands over her face, breathing in and out deeply.

"I'm good, I just... h-how do you stay so calm and businesslike while still giving her the feeling that she's talking with someone who understands what they're going through?" Dora stuttered, now tangling her fingers in her hair. She looked even more shaken up now, and Remus gave her a sad smile.

"It may sound cruel, but after some time, you get used to it. Even though it's never getting easier, you're just blunting emotionally to some degree. Today, crimes like these only affect my personal feelings minorly. I do feel sorry for them, but I know how to keep it away from me," Remus admitted and they gazed at each other for a long moment; Dora's eyes were glistening with tears, and Remus wished he could tell her something encouraging.

"But it is the most satisfying feeling when we get hold of the offender and are able to charge him for what he did. When we're able to send him into jail, it makes up for seeing all this suffering and sorrow."

"I just hope you're right," Dora whispered while Remus pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, dialing the number of a fellow Detectives at their precinct.

"Let's cheer you up a bit and grab this guy. Hey, Kingsley! Can you search an address for me? Name's Connor Gregson. Okay. Thanks a lot."

OoO

About half an hour later, they got out of the elevator on the top floor of an office building in Harlem, and Remus felt like Dora's mood had gotten better during the drive. At least she looked a little bit less shaken; a grim determination seemed to have taken over. He knew what was going on inside of her right now, and he was glad that things were already rather clear in this case, that their victim was able to identify her rapist.

The receptionist eyed them suspiciously as the two Detectives approached her desk, climbing up the few steps between the elevator and the bigger entrance area. Two young men were standing at the end of the desk, talking in low voices.

"What can I do for you?" the receptionist wanted to know with a false smile; she'd obviously seen their badges already. Most people reacted rather unhappily when they realised that the police was in their house, so Remus wasn't particularly surprised.

"NYPD, we're looking for a Mister Connor Gregson."

Immediately, one of the men to their right darted towards the stairs, and Remus reacted fast, tried to grab the man, but Gregson rammed his elbow into Remus chest, causing him to fall. While he pushed himself from the floor, trying to catch a breath, he could see Dora out of the corner of his eye, running after their suspect. They both vanished through a door, and Remus mumbled to himself: "Why do they always do that?"

Rubbing his aching chest, he needed a long moment to collect himself, and just wanted to follow Dora and Gregson as they came through the door.

"I got him," Dora declared with a little grin, the handcuffs clicking as she put them around the man's wrists. "And I already told him why we're here. I'm heartbroken by his statement that he doesn't want to visit us on the precinct."

"Well, sometimes we need to force them into their luck," Remus coughed, wiped the dust from his jeans and followed Dora and Gregson into the elevator, feeling all the surprised and shocked stares of the employees on his back.

OoO

Remus walked into the interrogation room, Dora at his heels. Gregson was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, looking annoyed about his arrest. When he spotted the two Detectives, he raised his cuffed wrists and protested: "May I know why you're treating me like a hardened criminal? You just burst into my office and drag me out like I've shot Kennedy! The police seems to be out of control, bringing an innocent citizen here without giving a reason!"

"So I may interpret this as that you don't know why you're here?" Remus asked calmly, unimpressed by the man's ranting as he sat down and reached over the table to unlock the handcuffs.

"I would be delighted if you would tell me, officer," the man bleated and folded his arms in front of his chest once they were free. His sleeves were rolled up now, and they could see fresh scratch marks on his forearms.

"Do you know a Miss Amy Ryan?" Dora began, a dark look on her face as the man shrugged and grinned smugly.

"We had a coffee date this morning. Why?"

"You seem to have forgotten that you raped her in the Central Park," Remus broke in before Dora could say something she hadn't thought about properly. Shoving the file he'd brought in with him over the table, he examined Gregson's reactions. "Your file says that this wasn't the first time you were violent towards women. Two years ago, your girlfriend reported you for locking her into your bedroom and forcing her to have sex with you."

"She was only angry because I wanted to leave her," Gregson spat and glared angrily at them. "And Amy - she wanted to have sex! She said she likes it when it's kinky. I'm not guilty, Sir!"

Dora bristled with suppressed anger and grunted to her partner: "They're always so sincere when they say that."

"You wanted to have a quickie and she refused! She shoved you away and you saw red because you obviously cannot stand it if a woman says 'no'. Amy told you to stop, but you just forced her, you hit her so hard that she has a concussion, and you broke her arm. I doubt that she wanted that; she even scratched you," Remus went on immediately, increasing the pressure onto their subject when suddenly the door behind them was ripped open.

Gregson sneered at the two Detectives as a loud, commanding voice behind them demanded: "Detectives, stop questioning my client. Connor, don't say a word."

Remus turned on his chair, running a hand through his short, dark blond hair, trying to conceal his annoyance about being interrupted in the middle of an interrogation. The man standing in the door was tall, had white-blond hair and was wearing an arrogant expression to his expensive black suit. Suddenly, Remus felt rather underdressed, or nearly shabby in his jeans, white t-shirt and brown suit jacket.

Andromeda was positioned behind the man, her lips were pressed into a thin line and she looked furious - no good sign, Remus thought.

"Lucius Malfoy, I'm Mister Gregson's lawyer, and I'm here to take him with me. One of his colleagues called me and told me that certain things were disregarded during the arrest. Your partner here didn't read his rights to my client, therefore he is free to go."

Gregson grinned triumphantly and stood up; his smug expression made Remus feel sick in his stomach and it got even worse when the man stopped next to Dora. His eyes were raking up and down her body, as if he was undressing her, and he cooed: "She loved it, believe me. You look as if you would like it too, Detective."

Remus' muscles twitched, and he couldn't keep himself from jumping from his chair abruptly. Glued to the spot, he glared at Gregson, who just chuckled and left the room, his lawyer following him and nodding at Andromeda: "Lieutenant. Seems like your Detectives are incompetent. But you know what they say: it all depends on the leadership."

Her shoulders tensed visibly and Remus could tell that she was fighting hard to keep her tongue under control; in the same moment, he realised what the reason for her behaviour was. This man was Lucius Malfoy, the man her younger sister Narcissa was married to! And of course he was treating her with the same amount of disgust and condescension as every other member of her family.

As soon as her brother in law and his client had left, Andromeda entered the room, looking like a predator observing his prey. Whenever her family was involved, she was extra sensitive, triggered easily, and Lucius Malfoy had pushed all the right buttons.

"What the hell were you two thinking?!" She exploded seconds later, and Dora stared at her mother with wide, nearly frightened eyes. "You're seriously messing up a case in which everything is as clear as it could be! We had all evidence, and you forget to read him his rights? How long have you been doing this job? Remus, ten years, or ten days?"

She was shaking her head, as if she couldn't believe that this was really happening. Remus was sure that it had to be a personal nightmare for her, and he felt guilty that he hadn't been there to prevent this.

"I'm sorry, I… I was affected by my emotions too much," Dora mumbled subdued, staring down at her shoes. Even though he was just as angry as Andromeda about this situation, Remus could understand Dora; this situation must have been overwhelming for her, and their earlier visit at the hospital surely driven her actions.

"It's my fault too, Andy. I wasn't there when she arrested him, as he tried to flee and shoved me to the ground. I should have made sure she did everything right, as I knew that questioning the victim had shaken her up, but I thought that she had enough experience with arrests," Remus spoke up and Andromeda bit her lower lip, looking at Dora with a softer expression. "Andy, don't you remember what I did during my first case with you? Or what you did? This sucks, I know, and I'll take all the blame onto me and I'll be happy to receive the beating for this in front of anyone we need to report this to. But please remember what kind of pressure the first day can be."

Andromeda blinked a few times, then she just nodded and left. Dora cleared her throat nervously and whispered: "You didn't have to…"

"That's what partners do for each other," Remus interrupted her and she smiled sadly as he patted her back before running a hand through his hair.

"Can you give me the car keys?"

"Why?"

"I… I want to drive to the hospital, and apologise to Amy," Dora explained and wiped a tear away; immediately, Remus pulled her into his arms. A few sobs escaped her and he gently caressed her back, allowing himself to somewhat enjoy holding her close.

"I'll accompany you," he murmured and placed a kiss onto her hair, knowing fully well that she would need someone to raise her up afterwards. When he thought about it, he now had a better feeling about their partnership; they were working together well so far, and he wanted to give this a shot. And if his feelings wouldn't interfere, they would probably make a great team.


End file.
